Key Point

In conjunction with the 2016 update to Local Authority Finances.com, this note details how Local Property Tax (LPT) is allocated in each local authority area.

Introduction

Each of the 31 local authorities raises LPT revenue within its administrative area. The allocation of this revenue is impacted by rules set by the Department of the Environment. Dublin City Council’s LPT is examined below by way of example. Table 2 then provides a full breakdown of the LPT allocation of each local authority in 2016.

Dublin City Council Local Property Tax 2016

Dublin City Council is estimated by the Revenue Commissioners to raise €77.5 million in Local Property Tax (LPT) in 2016. Twenty percent of this amount (€15.5 million) goes to the Equalisation Fund to top-up local authorities with lower LPT bases. Local authorities can vary the rate of LPT in their administrative area by 15% of the basic rate. Dublin City Council chose to apply a 15% reduction (€11.6 million) in LPT for 2016.

In order to retain the same amount of discretionary LPT funding in 2016 as that provided in 2015, the Government provided compensatory funding for local authorities with a shortfall. Compensatory funding was provided for ten local authorities totalling €2.1 million. Dublin City Council received €255,593 on account of its decision to reduce its LPT basic rate by 15%. The total LPT allocation for Dublin City Council post-variation and compensation is €50.7 million in 2016.

The €50.7 million allocation has to self-fund some services as directed by the Department of the Environment. €17.2m of the €50.7m has to be directed towards capital expenditure (this is not accounted for in the Revenue Budgets of Local Authority Finances.com). The remainder of the LPT is broken down into €26.7m for the self-funding of Housing and Roads and €6.8m for discretionary purposes. See table 1 below for detail.

Table 1 –Dublin City Council Local Property Tax allocation 2016

(Source: Local Authority Finances.com)

Table 2 shows the 2016 Local Property Tax allocations of the 31 local authorities in Ireland. It contains seven rows which break down the LPT into its various parts:

Key to Table 2

Table 2

(Source: Local Authority Finances.com)

Please click on the table to enlarge.

Image Credit.